Thursday, February 5, 2015

100th Day of School and Beyond!

It’s
hard to believe but we have passed the halfway point in this 2004-2015 school
year here at Barnard!Midterm progress
reports for the upper grades are scheduled for Wednesday January 28 and our 100th
day celebration is planned for Tuesday February 3, weather permitting. [As I
write this on Monday January 26, with a major storm in the forecast, I’m
thinking it will be a day (or more) later!]As always, the staff has much to report as we are completing the first
month of the new year.

From Mrs. Cestrone

“In
Grade 8 the students are receiving their "baby
simulators" for 48 hours this week since we just completed our chapter
on regulation and reproduction. We are beginning to work on the
digestive, respiratory and excretory systems. We will be conducting 2
"food labs" and at the end of the chapter we will be dissecting a pig's kidney.

In Grade 6-7 we are
completing our chapter on cell reproduction and we will begin "Heredity". The students will be learning about Mendel, the
"father" of genetics, punnett squares, genotypes and phenotypes,
pedigree charts, incomplete dominance, and genetic engineering to name a few
topics. The students will also be assigned a project.”

From Mrs. Dugan

“Barnard School will coordinate efforts with
the NH-DOE so that Words Their Way spelling assessment results are recorded and graphed over
time on their Performance Pathways site.”

From Mrs Sheckells

“Visit the Artsonia site http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=89240 to see what the Barnard students are doing in art. From
watercolors to pop art portraits, parents can view and share their children's
artwork. Gifts can be purchased with the original artwork printed on a
variety of items. A percentage of sales comes back to the art program.”

From Mrs. Moran

“Every Thursday afternoon during period
five, students in grades one, four and five collaborate together on a
project. Recently, the older students helped the younger ones create a unique
snowman and write descriptive sentences about it. This is exactly the
type of interaction that makes our school unique. Older students get to build leadership skills, share their
knowledge and kindness with the younger students, while younger students
benefit from individual attention from the older children. I have to share that
I am often stopped in my tracks during one of these classes, whether it is due
to an uncommonly kind comment from an older child, or listening to an older
child whom I know lacked confidence in their own learning, help a younger
child, or seeing the pure joy on the younger children's faces.

From Mr. Szeliga

“Students in grades 6-8 are participating in
a multi-disciplinary project in which they are developing a plan for their own Christmas
Tree Farm. Students have
"inherited" a plot of land and have decided to grow Christmas
trees. Using a variety of concepts and disciplines to help support their
actions, they must develop a plan and present their plan in a 10-minute presentation
to a board of investors (Think "Shark-Tank"). Students are
using area and accounting principles for mathematics, biology and climates for
science, and of course reading non-fiction literature about trees as well as
writing their ideas.”

From Ms. Donabedian

Mrs. Moran and I are scheduled to visit Jackson Grammar School in Jackson, NH
on January 29, 2015.The purpose of the
visit is to observe the combined Full Day Kindergarten/First Grade classroom
and then consult and collaborate with the teacher and principal.Jackson Grammar School is similar to Barnard
in that they have multi-grade classrooms and have about the same number of
students in Grades K-6.

The Special Services Department
offered screenings to all children in South Hampton between the ages of 3 and
5.Almost all residents
participated.The district is required
to reach out as part of Child Find
to identify students early on who may need special education services.In addition to identifying students who may
need help, it was a great way to meet families of incomingstudents and start to welcome families into
the Barnard community!

During our recent January
15 Early Release Day our teaching
staff took advantage of the fact that other schools were in session all day and
made some visitations.Our Middle School
teachers, Ms. Casassa, Mrs. Cestrone, and Mr. Szeliga spent the afternoon at Amesbury High School.The purpose of the visit was to meet with
teachers who were responsible for their respective subjects, observe classroom
instruction, inquire about Barnard graduates’ preparedness, and gather
information on course offerings in order to better refer students now and in
the future.This was a continuance of a
past practice here at Barnard and we are committed to increase this
collaboration with our High School of record.We hope in the future to widen our scope and similarly reach out to Whittier Regional Vocational School, where
we also send qualified graduates.Mrs.
Moran and Ms. Macdonald both visited North
Hampton Elementary while Mrs. Pruett went to Marston School in Hampton.This was a great opportunity to meet with other teachers, share ideas,
and compare curricula.At a recent staff
meting we debriefed the experience and plan to make these activities a regular
part of our Professional Development.

That’s
the latest from our staff and myself, as we look forward to the second half of
another amazing year. February
continues with the PTA sponsored Ski Program on Tuesday afternoons
and this year I have been sharing the time on the snow with Ms. Macdonald, (even though she is a snowboarder?!) and
the kids have been loving it!It is also
the time for midyear AIMSweb and NWEA testing for
selected students.Based on the data
collected from these assessments staff will be able to better differentiate
instruction based on student growth, strengths, and needs. As we approach the
100th day of school we are looking forward to spring with field
trips to Mounts Major and Monadnock,
and our annual Grade 8 trip to DC. Please
visit our website and my blog for additional information, teacher websites and
photos.Have a fun and safe winter
season.